


Recruits

by HogwartsToAlexandria



Series: Marie's BBB Fills 2019 [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019, Caring, Coughing, First Kiss, M/M, Pining, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Sleep Deprivation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-15 21:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18507721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HogwartsToAlexandria/pseuds/HogwartsToAlexandria
Summary: (Canon Divergence: Steve and Bucky were recruits together)Bucky can barely stand on his own two feet by the time morning comes back and he has to face both the Colonel and the hell that is training to enter the US army. But caring for Steve is second-nature, has been for years and he doesn't regret a minute of it all.Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019 Fill, K2: "Sleep Deprivation"





	Recruits

**Author's Note:**

> First fill for the BBB! Also first time writing Stucky, hope you like it!!
> 
> Thank you to SerenaLunera for the beta and brainstorming and to Bill Longbow for the idea that really got me started!!

"Recruits, at attention!"

The voice is that of Colonel Phillips. A voice all recruits know better than that of their mothers by then, two months into training for the US Army. A voice that wakes them up in a start and gets them all to make their beds and be ready to crawl through dust and mud in a matter of seconds. A voice that roars and doesn't joke around, or very rarely. That's not why he's here and time is precious. The war is forever lurking in the corners and it's a perpetual game of in and out and new and ready recruits. The colonel makes sure they never forget why they're here, even for a second. They don't. They hear and listen, their senses alert and muscles aching from how trained they actually are by now. 

The weak have been sent home. Steve and Bucky stand in formation, by alphabetical order, Bucky on the front line-up, Steve on the left in the back, and isn't that just the exact picture of how they work, Steve muses, himself always struggling to keep up, slowing James down even when he's trying his best not to?

He doesn't get much more time to fit his thoughts in before the Colonel erupts again in a flurry of gun positioning commands. They all comply. He stops them abruptly. Takes a few stiff steps along the first line of saluting recruits and stops right in front of James. Shit.

"Barnes!" He spits more than he says.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Bucky responds automatically.

"You're falling asleep on your rifle, soldier. Three more laps for you after the session, see if that wakes you up." 

"Sir, yes, sir!" Bucky responds, automatically. Steve internally facepalms. It's his fault, as always. 

The Colonel's face is set in permanent hard lines that crease even deeper when he stares just like he does now, straight through Bucky's concentrated pose and answer. He knows, he probably knows everything. He doesn't look at Steve though, just takes a step backward and goes back to shouting his orders to the whole of the group.

This session feels even more exhausting than they usually do but that might be an illusion, the afternoon might be even worse, and the day after. But the war, that's what they need to be ready for and the Nazis won't let them rest either.

It's with grim faces that the newbie soldiers march to the showers as night comes. It's everyone's bet whether they'll be granted a full night's sleep or not, whether tonight will see another one of those dreadful night sessions. everyone savors their opportunity to clean up even though the water turns cold halfway through.

The camp beds they have are so far from any idea of comfort that the rest they actually get is already much lesser than what any civilian can picture and yet, every soldier in the tent sighs with relief as they get to lie down, finally.  

The night is cold but the thick blankets they give to everyone upon arrival do their jobs of keeping any normally wired soldier warm enough.

Steve isn't  _ normally wired _ . If he thought about it objectively enough maybe he would realize that being here, in his condition, is the worst thing he could ever do to his body, but Steve is stubborn and even Bucky has long stopped trying to make him see reason. 

Same as most nights Steve gets a few hours of fitful sleep, he turns around and mumbles under his breath but at least he sleeps then and Bucky does too. Until he starts coughing. Until his lungs try to escape his body though his mouth once more, clawing at his throat with sharp shark-like teeth on their way. 

It's their luck that the other soldiers in the tent can sleep through Steve's fits or else they would hate him, for sure. Bucky is so used to it that he wakes up at first signs that the coughing is coming, more often than not, he wakes up before Steve even. And that's good, this way he can pretend that he already couldn't find sleep, he can try to lie and deny that Steve woke him up. He knows the man too well, knows he resents himself enough as it is. Bucky doesn't get up so Steve feels bad, he gets up so he can take care of him, of the man he loves silently, discreetly.

He leaves his wood-like bed to settle at the foot of Steve's, kneeling on the ratty carpet flooring. It's always the same routine. He has a bottle of water ready at his side, condensation pearling on the plastic and he waits for Steve's eyes to flutter open or flash open in a sudden scare. Bucky gets up before Steve even opens his eyes because he wants Steve to see him right away, he wants Steve to have that, that prime reassurance that he isn't alone, never. 

When Steve finally manages to hold onto Bucky's gaze that's when things get real and go quicker but still as precise, tuned to every last one of the things that make Steve's heart calm down and with it his lungs, if only for a bit. It can take but a few minutes, in can take a few hours of repeated fits. They're ready.

Bucky fishes Steve's hand under the covers and it's always icy cold and he always has to resist the urge to slither under the covers too and around Steve. The army wouldn't see kindly to that and even though Bucky can see Steve understands the urge, Bucky also knows Steve isn't ready for any of it. 

So he just helps his friend to sit up in his bed and immediately bunches up the blankets around him so the chilly air doesn't make its way inside Steve's cocoon.

Then he helps the man get some water down, he rubs his back and taps it as needed, he sets his own breathing on a deeper pace and louder volume than what he actually needs just so Steve has something to hear, a rhythm to copy so the coughing will space out. It generally works. Sometimes he doesn't and they just end up falling asleep when their respective bodies are too exhausted to keep up with what Steve's lungs are trying to say. Their plea for a reprieve. 

Steve is stubborn and won't let go. Bucky loves him and will help him, no matter how many laps his resulting tiredness earns him from the Colonel. They're a duo, that's how they work. They're friends and they're so much more. 

They're ready to go on like that for as long as it takes and Bucky is worried when a certain Dr. Erskine asks to see Steve and Steve alone but when the rumors of a super serum filter through the camp, when he hears that Steve's health issues might have an almost magical cure, hope and longing battle inside of him. When he sees what the serum has done to Steve, when he sees the look in Steve's eyes, it's a very different kind of yearning that settles deep into Bucky's loins and he breathes his tired air in the space between their lips the second they get a moment alone.

 

They were ready to go on like that for as long as it took but this way is fine too.

**Author's Note:**

> Mooore to come, I have no self-control.
> 
> Also find me on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hogwartstoalexandria)


End file.
